Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

SPOILER ALERT: this is a stupidly long review. I like to provide as much detail as possible when I write a review, because that’s the sort of thing I look for in other reviews. Buying things from online retailers is great and all, but it prevents us from getting any hands-on information until we’ve already shelled out our money. Detailed reviews are the best way to combat disappointment and buyers’ remorse. So either get some popcorn and/or a coffee, or skip to the end, or skip this review entirely  Seriously though, it’s a long review. Prepare yourself. This headset is about as close to ideal as I'm probably ever going to get, at least until headsets are implanted subdermally behind the ear, or when music and communications are beamed directly into the brain or something. It has great sound, features, fit, and looks. There are a few downsides which I'll get out of the way first, and then I can get back to gushing about this thing. First, I feel that the earbud cords are maybe .5 to .75 inches too short. I wear this mainly when I’m at work, underneath the collar of my polo shirt. The cords therefor have to dip down under the edge of the collar, and then make the trip back up to my ears. It's fine if I'm looking straight ahead, but if I turn my head too much it will tug on the 'outside' ear (if I look left, it tugs on my right ear and vice versa). I've gotten around this somewhat by removing the little silicone o-rings that are intended to manage the earbud cords. It releases a little more cord length so the tugging is less noticeable, but it is still there. The cords are a bit short for my taste even when wearing a t-shirt, but aren’t too bad. The next downside is that the headset does not support connection to two devices at once. I get that this “one device at a time” thing improves the handoff between music and calls, since this is easier when both services are provided by one phone/device, but I still wish I could listen to my personal phone's music collection while being able to take calls from my work phone. Other headsets like the Sony MW600 handle this with ease. I should clarify that the Buds can be PAIRED with multiple devices, but can only be connected to one device at a time. Currently, I’ve got them paired with my Android tablet and phone, my iPod, and my work iPhone. I can switch from one to another by manually disconnecting from one and connecting to another (via each device’s settings), so I don’t have to go through the pairing process every time I want to switch – pairing the Buds is not difficult at all, but that would get annoying real quick. Now that I've got that out of the way, I can talk about the stuff I like about the Buds, which is pretty much everything. First off, let me assure you that this headset DOES support Apt-X Bluetooth connections where available. Apt-X is a Bluetooth audio codec that is designed to provide sound quality equal to a wired headset. Other Bluetooth audio connections have to compress the audio, making it sound somewhat muddled and, well, bad. This happens regardless of the quality of your source audio file. Apt-X support is most commonly available in recent Samsung (including the Galaxy S3, S4, and S5) and HTC phones (including the One and M8), but there are others out there as well. If you’re interested, there is a ridiculously complete .xlsx spreadsheet available from jessebandersen dot com, but a simple Google search will also yield results. I found Jesse’s page by searching for “aptx enabled devices” – it was the first result in the list. Sadly Apt-X is not supported by Apple yet, and knowing them they'll come out with some proprietary alternative to it that only works with their own headsets (they bought Beats by Dre in the last week or so, so get ready). I almost passed on the Buds because Apt-X isn't listed anywhere in the specs or reviews that I saw here on Amazon. I had to go to Motorola's site and look up the user manual to find it. I was originally going to go with the LG Tone headset line (which also supports Apt-X), but didn't like the "flat loop" design that most of them have – it looks like a great fit… for a robot. In my opinion the Buds are designed for a better fit on an actual human: the front of the control stalks bend gently down, following the curve of the neck/shoulders/collarbones. The majority of the headset (including the very small weight of the battery pack) rests on the base of your neck, and the control stalks rest comfortably near the collarbones. The LG Tone can't do both at the same time since it is formed in a flat circle: the stalks aren’t angled relative to the neck band, and they carry all the weight of the battery so they’ll fall to your collarbones while the center section will be halfway up the back of your neck (the newer ones are curved like the Buds, but are $70 more expensive). I’m wearing the Buds headset right now, and can hardly feel it – a great improvement over traditional “earhugger” Bluetooth headsets. While I’m talking about fit, I should probably mention that I wear a 17.5” collar, and can’t stand having things touching my neck or throat. The Buds fit quite comfortably, and provide just the slightest reassuring touch on the front sides of my neck. They widest gap between the left and right control stalks measures just a hair under 5 inches. The Buds have a tidy control arrangement and are easy to navigate. Play/pause/answer/end/track-skip commands (as well as EQ settings and voice dial activation) are handled by a rocker switch on the left, and volume adjustments are handled by a rocker switch on the right. The microphone is underneath the rocker switch on the left, and the power switch is underneath the body (center section) of the headset, next to the charging port. Play/pause/answer/end is done by a single press of the forward half of the left rocker switch, which has a little bit of texture to it for identification/grip purposes. You can activate voice dialing (like Siri or Samsung’s S-Voice or Google voice search) by long-pressing this same button while no music is playing. Track-skip forward is done by a single press of the back half of the same switch, and track-skip back is done by a double press. I kind of wish skip forward/back were handled by separate buttons, but it’s easy enough to get used to. One thing to note about the mic being on the same stalk as the answer/end button: if you have to feel around for the end call button, the person on the other end is going to hear ALL OF IT since the microphone is right beneath it. Lots of loud rustling noises. Oops. Not enough for me to list as a full-on downside, but still... kind of annoying. They could have placed the mic on the right, which come to think of it is a whole lot less “busy” since it mostly only has volume control functions. Volume down is achieved by pressing the forward half of the right rocker switch, and volume up by pressing the back half. You can mute an active phonecall by pressing both portions of the volume rocker, and reject an incoming call by long-pressing either one of the volume buttons. EQ modes can be changed by a long-press of the “Play/Pause” switch on the left. There are 3 EQ modes, but there is no indication of which one you are in, or documentation of what the effects are supposed to be. There is a voice notification of “EQ mode changed!” but that’s it. You’re on your own to figure out exactly what that means. My best guess is that the modes are flat, treble boost, and bass boost. As a general “audiophile” rule, flat EQ response is best since it doesn’t meddle with the sound balance and you hear it as the artist intended. I can barely tell which EQ mode is bass boost, but can’t tell the difference between the other two. And if I can’t tell the difference, then I guess it doesn’t really matter. I’d recommend switching modes while listening to your general type of music, getting to an EQ setting you like, and then never changing it again. As is obvious from the pictures and literature, the earbuds are held magnetically to the ends of the control stalks when not in use. The magnets are pretty strong, and the earbuds have yet to bounce themselves loose. In fact, they are so strong that if I remove an earbud from my ear but don’t attach it to the end of the stalk, I’ll eventually find that it has connected itself at some point as I’ve been moving around. Needless to say, don’t get any of these parts too close to any of your credit cards. As far as sound quality goes, I’m really impressed. The earbuds are said to have “Premium HD speakers”, and whatever that truly means, they sound great and the Apt-X support really helps them shine. I should point out that the Buds will still sound great with non-Apt-X devices like Apple gadgets, and will certainly sound as good as all other Bluetooth headsets that don’t support it. As long as the earbuds are seated properly (which is critical with any in-ear earbuds) bass response is nice and solid, and everything just sort of sparkles. Not saying that “sparkle” is added in any way, but if the music has fine detail in it then you’ll hear a lot more of it. Speaking of having the earbuds seated properly, the documentation talks a bit about about “micro-adjustability”, and what this translates into is that the stem of each earbud can pivot a certain amount around a central axis in a sort of narrow cone shape, so the angle of the stem relative to the earbud’s body can change a bit to fit different peoples’ ear structures. The earbuds seem to stay fairly well seated unless I get really sweaty. Speaking of sweat, I will also note that the Buds are not labelled as “sweat proof”, which does make me worry a little bit. I sweat easily, and do a lot of biking and walking, and my work is somewhat physical too. Hopefully this does not become an issue. There is a little rubber plug you have to partially remove to access the charging port, so make sure you place it back securely before getting sweaty. Anyways, back to audio quality: One important thing to note, which is true of all high quality sound delivery devices, is that the final output depends highly on good source material. You should know by now that low quality sources like 128Kbps .mp3 files or even some tracks on Pandora and other streaming services aren’t the best, and with these you will hear every little bit of their badness. Other headsets may mask this but they’re also masking the fine detail of better quality files, so in a way it’s actually a good thing. Call quality on both ends of the line is really good as well, and I’ve never had anyone ask “Are you using Bluetooth?” which I usually get when I use other headsets. In fact, I had one person stop me in mid-conversation and ask “Didn’t you say you were going to put on your bluetooth headset?”, and almost didn’t believe me when I said I already had. One last thing about audio quality – if you listen to music via any app with preamp gain, you may want to be reduce that gain level to zero. I use PowerAmp on my Galaxy S4 and was dismayed at first to hear a ton of distortion, especially in the low end. I almost returned the headset because I could not get rid of it. I eventually found that the preamp gain (on PowerAmp’s EQ settings page) was set to about 75% of its capacity, and turning it down eliminated the distortion completely. You can get rid of the distortion at 25%, but why risk it? I keep it at zero now just to be sure. Doing so also reduced the overall volume, but since these things get plenty loud on their own, I don’t mind at all. Usually I hate the looks of most Bluetooth headsets: the obnoxious blinking blue lights and the giant blobs of techno-crud clamped to peoples’ ears make them look like extras from bad 80’s sci-fi movies. I have to say that the Motorola Buds practically disappear, especially while wearing them under the collar of a polo shirt. They do have an indicator light, but it is nestled in between the power switch and charging port, so it’s not visible at all while they’re being worn. I have to say, at first I wasn’t too pleased with the fact that even the black headset has white bits on it (the undersides of the flat cords, the silicone ear pieces, and the forward/inside halves of the earbud shells). I have changed my mind and have very much come to enjoy the subtle high-contrast design. It looks nice and modern without looking like it’s trying too hard. As I said, it practically disappears under a polo collar – all you can see is the white silicone ear pieces and a touch of the white from the cord. When you’ve got an earbud inserted, the white flash from the undersides of the cords help make it a little more obvious to others that you’re either listening to music or talking on the phone. I say “a little” because people still give me weird looks when they walk into a room while I’m in mid conversation. I have to make the universal “I’m not a lunatic, I’m just on the phone” gesture to most folks, but the observant ones can figure it out for themselves more easily. I see these now come in blue, which makes me even more sad that they don’t come in red. You see, I have a sickness. A sickness which has yet to be defined (or even acknowledged) by Science, in which I have an overwhelming love (some, like my wife, would say “unhealthy obsession”) for black things with red trim, or red things with black trim, or… well, you get the idea. If these came in red, I’d sell 4 of my 5 pints of blood (or at least my black/white Buds) to get a set. Maybe one day. Those are the main points I wanted to talk about. There are a few more things that don’t really fit in the review elsewhere, so I’ll stick them here. The specs say that the wireless range is up to 150 feet, but that is with a “Class 1 Bluetooth device”, which your phone probably isn’t. Realistic use is still around 30 to 40 feet, with minor barriers like walls and doors. I don’t even know where to find a true Class 1 Bluetooth device, so get that 150ft range spec out of your head. Battery life seems to be pretty good, and although I try to charge the headset every night, I’ve gone as far as 2 full workdays of mixed usage without running out of battery. They’re rated at “up to 12 hours” of playback, but it’s anyone’s guess as to what that actually means. I talked about the silicone earpieces earlier, but forgot to mention that they come in 3 sizes – small, medium, and large. The Buds come with the small ones installed already, but I found that the mediums were best for me. The earpieces on most of my other earbuds (both wired and wireless) are 99% interchangeable, but these are slightly different. The posts on the ear stems are a slightly smaller diameter than standard, so earpieces from other sets are a bit loose. Swapping other earpieces to the Buds would result in more sound leakage and result in poorer sound quality and bass response, and also put you at a much higher risk of having one of the earpieces coming off the stem and sticking in your ear. Trust me, you don’t want that. Stick to the 3 sizes provided and find the one that best suits you. Use the biggest size you can stand, because a good seal is critical for good sound quality. Another thing I mentioned briefly was the Buds’ voice notifications. The Buds have a set of pre-programmed voice notifications built in that you’ll hear as you turn the headset on and off, or change EQ settings, and maybe a few other commands. When you power it up, the headset plays a short musical tune and then a chipper female voice says “Welcome to the Motorola Buds!” When you connect to a phone or mp3 player, the same voice says “Device 1 connected!” The voice isn’t too bad, but it took me a while to get used to. When you receive a phone call, it will play another tune at you instead of mirroring your phone’s ringtone. I think it’s a riff on the first few notes of “Ride of the Valkyries” but I could be wrong. The Buds also play a soft “bloop” noise every time you play or pause or adjust the volume. Other than these “bloop” noises, there is really no indication of whether or not the unit is even powered up. I mention this because if the headset loses connection it will automatically power down after 5 minutes to save battery. If you pick the headset up after a while and don’t know what power state it’s in, hit a volume button and listen for the bloop. The headset has yet to drop Bluetooth connection on its own, which is a first for all the headsets I’ve owned and is kind of impressive. The very last thing I wanted to talk about (yeah, I made a list) is that there are very thin rubber strips that run up the undersides of each control stalk, which I think serve the purpose of covering the track the wires run through. A small section of one of these strips popped up after about a week and would not seat itself back down. I eventually decided that they are probably held in place by some sort of adhesive, since I could not get it to “pop back in”, so I placed the tiniest dab of Krazy Glue in there, wiped off the excess, and held it in place until it dried. This was about a month ago, and it has not popped back up yet. So that’s absolutely every observation about the Motorola Buds that I’ve made since I got them. If you’ve read through all that, I salute you. I probably owe you 20 minutes of your life back. Sorry about that. Now on to the summary, which I promised at the start: For the tl;dr crowd, I wholly approve of this headset. It’s the headset I’ve been waiting quite some time for, and it’s finally here. Features, fit, sound, and looks are all pretty much perfect, and it’s hard to come up with a list of serious disadvantages. As I write this, it’s available here for $58, which is quite a steal. The nearest competitor is the LG HBS-800, which normally goes for $130. Check these out – I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.